For years, I’ve had an aerial view of the University Bridge here in Seattle, because I am a bridgetender, and I work in its tower. I love this bridge, with its art deco embellishments, but I may be biased. It’s hard to have such an intimate relationship with a thing without becoming attached to it.
Having said that, though, I can’t wait for the day when it gets repainted, because its rust is starting to take over. It is beginning to look much more neglected than it actually is. That breaks my heart.
Sadly, that paint project is many years away. Painting a bridge is not cheap or easy. First, the old paint has to be sandblasted off. And there are a lot more nooks and crannies to be painted than one might think. Every step of the project must be carried out safely and in an environmentally friendly way. The painters must construct rather unique scaffolding so as not to plunge into the waterway below, and when the bridge in question is a moveable bridge like mine is, that adds another layer of complexity. It will be a stressful few years for me, too, as I’ll have to be sure that every single one of the dozens of workers are in a safe location before I can open the bridge for vessels. In the summer months, this can occur about a dozen times per shift.
But all that effort will be worth it, because my bridge will be beautiful again. For about 5 minutes, that is, until the graffiti artists have their way with it. I will never understand that urge to make things uglier. Does it make young men feel like they are in control for one brief, shining moment? Does it make them release some anger? If so, it doesn’t work, because they are still being controlled in terms of wasting their time on efforts that don’t improve things for themselves or others in any way, and their anger doesn’t seem to diminish. If all that energy were directed toward being a force for good, imagine how beautiful this world would be.
I had one idea that might, maybe, possibly reduce the graffiti on this bridge. Since we’re so close to the University of Washington, why not paint it in their school colors, purple and gold? Maybe with more area pride behind it, there would be more community ownership of this bridge. Right now it’s that light, institutional green that half the bridges in the country are painted, which renders it just another object on the landscape to be taken advantage of and abused.
Unfortunately, one thing that all departments of transportation in the free world have in common is an almost aggressive resistance to change. So, needless to say, my suggestion for a color change fell on deaf ears. First, I was told that that green is required by the Army Corps of Engineers. (Not true.) Then I was told that using unique colors on a bridge had backfired on them in the past. Well, that’s partly true.
Fremont Bridge, also in Seattle, is painted blue with orange highlights. The public was asked to vote for two bridge colors, and the general belief is that blue and orange were the two colors that were chosen. What most people don’t know is that that’s not true. It turns out that there was no actual front-runner in that vote, so SDOT just randomly picked those two colors. They’d have been much better off picking orange with blue highlights, because the dark blue makes it much harder for our engineers to routinely inspect for damages to the bridge.
So yeah, dark purple may not be the best idea for University, in terms of inspection. That, and the fact that this bridge is very prone to heat expansion in the summer means that the bridge does not need a dark color to make it even more prone to heat. Point taken.
But I’m not one who gives up easily. So I countered, “Then why not paint it gold with purple highlights?” And I must have worn them down, because I do have an email that is several years old sitting in my archives that says they agreed to that. But we’ve had several administration changes since then, so I’ll believe it when I see it.
But all this drama behind what should have been a simple debate had me wondering about the connection between steel bridges and light green in the first place. I mean, someone must have made that initial choice at some point. And it must have caught on for a reason. So I did a little digging.
It turns out that most steel bridges were black or grey until 1929 when the Mount Hope Bridge in Rhode Island was built, and according to this article, it was painted green to blend in with the natural surroundings. (My bridge, in the heart of Seattle, has very few natural surroundings to blend in with.) Some also say that the color was influenced by the statue of Liberty.
Next, the St. Johns Bridge in Portland, Oregon was built in 1931. It was painted a very similar green for the same reasons. That color quickly spread to many other bridges in Oregon, and the green became increasingly identical. Soon it became known as ODOT green, for the Oregon Department of Transportation.
The steel version of the University Bridge here in Seattle was built in 1933, and jumped on the ODOT green bandwagon. In fairness, it is a good choice for the Pacific Northwest because for some reason ODOT green cures best in damp weather. After that, it sort of became a national tradition.
We’ll probably be seeing fewer green bridges over time. This will not be due to any change in societal color preference, but more due to the fact that bridges are increasingly made of concrete, thus eliminating the need for paint entirely, or they are built of a new weathered steel that develops a red rust finish that doesn’t require paint. Perhaps one day all bridges will be concrete grey or red rust. That will be a sad day, indeed.
So perhaps it won’t be so bad if University Bridge remains green. There may come a time when it’s the last historical holdout. I’ve made my peace with the green, if SDOT finds color change to be too controversial. My desire for this bridge to be one of a kind now battles with my desire for it to maintain a historical legacy. Only time will tell what color it will be after the next paint job.
Primary sources:
- https://bridgemastersinc.com/steel-bridges-painted-green/
- https://www.fedsteel.com/insights/the-history-behind-green-steel-bridges/
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